Securing means for closures



Dec. 22, 1931. H. B. WALTER 1,837,602.

SECURING MEANS FOR CLOSURES- Filed Oct. 26, 1929 Patented Dec. 22, 1931 UNITED STATES HARRISON B. WALTER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T CONTAINER CORPORATION OF AMERICA, OF CHICAGO,- ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE sEouRnvG MEANs Eon CLOSURES Application filed October 26, 1929. Serial No. 402,599.

The'present invention relates to fibre or paper board boxes and more particularly to a box of this character provided with means for fastening certain parts thereof together s in a secure and practically permanent manner. Among the objects of the invention are to provide a box construction of comparatively simple form, easy to set up and handle,

and having parts whichmay be secured together with a minimum effort to provide a practically permanent connection therebetween.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claim at theend of the specification.

In the drawings: a Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a box em bodying the present invention illustrating a preferred form of construction for securing two parts of the box together;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing 2 the cooperating parts in secured relation;

and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail view of a slightly different form of securing means for' one of the parts. V I The present embodiment of the invention provides a dependable .form of box construction capable of being manufactured at moderate cost and being particularly advantageous for use in the manufacture of paper and fibre board boxes having cooperating cover flaps which are to be secured together.

, I Referring more pa-rticularl to the drawings there is indicated at 5 a ox "which in the present instance is made up with dimensions suitable for employment as a suit or clothing box. Certain features of the construction of.

the present box form the subject matter of -my copending application Serial No. 407,329,

filed November 15, 1929, to which reference is made for a full description thereof.

The-box 5 is formed from a single blank of sheet material, preferably from fibre or paper board, having appreciable stiffness of texture.- The cover flaps indicated respectively at 6 and 7 are hinged to the side walls 8, 8 along score lines 9, 9 and preferably somewhat overlap at the central portion of the box.

In the present instance the cooperating cover flaps 6 and 7 are adapted to be secured together by means of a tongue and slit connection. While this tongue andslit connec-,

tion may be employed to advantage either in boxes of the character described or in other constructions of fibre or paper board having parts arranged to be securedtogether in like manner, the present description will be limconstruction.

The tongue, designated as a whole at 10, is preferably but not necessarily, an integral part of the cover member 6. This tongue is adapted to be inserted in a suitably formed slit 11 in the complementary cover'member 7. Means are provided on the tongue 10 whereby when the tongue is inserted into the slit 11 it will automatically be engaged therein so as to render, it difiicult, if not impossible, to remove the tongue without tearing the material of the box. This means, in the present instance, comprises a pair of flap extensions 12, 12 formed integrally with the tongue 10 and at each side thereof; The length of these flap extensions may vary within generous limits,

but in the present instance they are shown of a convenient length approximately onefifth to one-fourth of the length of the tongue extensions and the main part of the'cover' 1 member 6. In this way the flaps 12, 12 may be bent over against the tongue 10 in a more uniform manner and without the necessity of scoring along the line between the tongue and the flap. The openings 13 tend to facilitate bending of the flap for the reason that they slightly weaken the material along the ]unc-. tion line between the tongue and flap. y

The flaps 12, 12 are preferably secured to the under face of the tongue 10 in any suitable manner, this being accomplished in the present instance by staples 1'4, 14:- The flaps 12-, 12 thus provide projecting shoulders on the under face of the tongue 10 which cooperate with the slit 11 in a manner to be presently set forth. While it is not necessary in every case for the shoulders or abutments on the underface ofthetongue 10 to be formed in this manner it is preferable from a manufacturing standpoint. The same result could, however, be obtained by securing independent abutment members on the tongue.

With the box set up as-shown it is ready to be closed and sealed by inserting the tongue 10 into the slit 11 as indicated in Fig.2. With the tongue in this position the edges 15 of the flaps 12 will bear against the edge 16 of the material along the'slit 11 and will thus serve as a positive latch for preventing disengagement of the tongue from the slit. In practice it has been found that it is next to impossible to extricate the tongue from the slit without tearing the slit or the tongue orv both.

ciable diameter and preferably substantially circular in form although the particular shape of the opening is, in general, immaterial. The preferred-method of forming this construction is to provide at the ends of the cut-. ting knife a circular cutter which makes the widened openings. These openings serve the purpose of facilitatin the insertion of the tongue in the-slit an preventing possible tearing of the material along the extended lines of the slit.

In this connection it maybe noted that when a simple slit is formed in a sheet of material the ends of the. slitv are almost never sharply defined but more usually present a condition which gradually merges from the solid -material'to the beginning ofthe cut proper. Accordingly when the material on either side of the slit is moved relatively apart in substantially parallel planes shearing stresses are set upwhich tend to further extend the slit and this is especially noticeable when the slit is disposed parallel to the grain of the material. Where the slit terminates I Cin' a widened opening the shearing stresses are distributed over'agreater area of the materialand the likelihood of the slit being lengthened by tearing is greatly reduced.

It has been found in practice that the form of slit herein shown has'several distinct advantages over a slot. In the first place the process of making a slitis more simple as it requires but a single blade or knife whereas There is preferably provided at each ter minalof the slit 11 an opening 17 of appre- 'the slot. Another disadvantage of the slot arrangement is that it does not provide such a secure locking engagement for the tongue.

The form of the invention shown in Fig. 3 is similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 except that'in this case the tongue 20 is formed with flap extensions 21, 21, which are not secured to the under face of the tongue proper but are intended to extend'outwardly. In securing the cover members together where this form of the invention is used it is necessary to bend under the flaps2l and hold them thus with the fingers while the tongue is being inserted in the slit.

While a slit has been shown and described for use in connection withthe locking tongue of the present invention it is not necessary in every instance that the slit be employed as the novel features of the tongue are capable of cooperating in an effective way with a narrow slot. The slit however is preferred for the reasons above given.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an effective means for securing together various parts of fibre or paper board constructions and is particularly advantageous for securing together the closure members of a box. It is further apparent that the securing means may be readily engaged to form a practically permanent seal forthe box, it being unnecessary to employ cord, gummed tape or any other type of securing means in conjunction therewith. The

' construction of the present invention is pardling with a great saving of time over the old method which included tying a cord around the box.

l/Vhile the present description sets forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, numerous changes may be made in the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive,

reference being had to the appended claim rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

1 claim:

A box of fibreor paper board comprising two cooperating cover flaps, one of said flaps having a slit therein, a tongue projecting from the outer free edge of the other of said flaps and adapted to engage within said slit,"fiap extensions projecting laterally on each side of said tongue bent overin the direction of the center line of said tongue and secured to the under side thereof, said flap extensions presenting shoulders along a line substantially at right angles to the fold of said flap extensions, said shoulders being somewhat spaced from the surface of said tongue whereby an abutment will be provided which is adapted to contact the edgeof I the material at one side of said slit toprevent 

